Google Marketing Platform Puts Measurement First

By Peter HowleyJuly 16, 2018

Google has merged and re-branded its Google Analytics 360 Suite and DoubleClick Digital Marketing, getting product naming caught up with integrations that we already help agencies and their clients leverage. While it’s “hello” to the Google Marketing Platform and “goodbye” to DCM, DBM, DFP, and other names, this is more a victory over acronym sprawl: we’ve long enabled data sharing between our partner GA360 and the former DoubleClick products. GMP will let us guide more agencies in integrating ad and analytics tools so they can deepen their client relationships.

As longtime Google Analytics 360 Sales Partners, Empirical Path has helped numerous agencies and clients like Destination XL, MailChimp, the VA, and Business Insider integrate Google Marketing Platform products for deeper insights. In the combined Partner program, we will maintain our focus on Google Analytics 360, Optimize 360, Tag Manager 360 and Data Studio so we can continue to partner with agencies and others in the erstwhile DoubleClick Certified Marketing Partner program. Most importantly, we will still resell GA360 at a custom price in collaboration with agency partners.

Beyond the brand simplification, we welcome Google’s clear signal of their continued measurement-first approach to marketing. Like them, we believe in breaking down the silos that keep marketing stakeholders and contributors in the dark. With easier access to cross-platform audience and advertising insights, GMP will help agencies increase — and prove — the impact of their work.

Google’s measurement-first approach to marketing has long meant that the best source of truth is often Google Analytics. You can see this in the integrations that already exist in GA360: DFP (now Google Ad Manager), DoubleClick Search (now Search Ads 360), DCM/DBM (now Display & Video 360) and Big Query. (AdWords — now simply Google Ads — and Search Console have long integrated with the free GA, though we often help connect them more optimally). We see the recent changes as Google doubling down. We are happy at the prospect of joining experts from other domains like advertising agencies and aggregators to ensure measurement is always seen as an asset to marketing, not a dark secret.

It’s clear these recent changes, along with others over the past two or three years, signal a direction toward simpler, consolidated packaging of Google’s marketing offerings for businesses large and small.

For Small Businesses
(Free)

For Enterprise & Sophisticated Needs
(Premium)

Advertising

Google Ads (AdWords / Express)

Google Ad Manager (DFP, Ad Exchange)

Display & Video 360 (DBM, DCM, Studio, Audience Center)

Search Ads 360 (DS)

Measurement

Google Analytics*

Optimize*

Data Studio*

Surveys

Tag Manager*

Attribution (beta)

Google Analytics 360*

Optimize 360*

Surveys 360

Tag Manager 360*

Attribution 360 (beta)

* Empirical Path certifications

For now, most of the changes are cosmetic improvements which won’t impact your existing tags or product configurations. Between now and July 24th, you’ll start to notice a number of helpful improvements to navigation, branding, and user interface. Knowing Google’s history, these brand simplifications should be only the beginning of new and improved functional integrations between Google’s advertising, optimization, and analytics products.

As Google continues its evolution from keywords toward a closer understanding of real consumer behavior and intent, we look forward to offering our decades of enterprise expertise in desktop, mobile, and application analytics to agencies that want to become even more indispensable to clients.

Contact us for our advice to agencies about adapting Google’s announcement.

More Related to Analytics 360

Since 2002, Empirical Path LLC has been partnering with industry-leading analytics providers and delivering enterprise-grade engagements to Fortune 500 brands, government agencies, and technology start ups. We focus on web and mobile analytics, tag management systems, and attribution, so you can focus on marketing your business. We are located all over the United States and headquartered in Atlanta.

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